2nd man charged in card party robbery

Saturday

Police said Friday that they have charged a second man with armed robbery in a case involving the theft of wallets, cash and cell phones from players at a card game last week.

Police said Friday that they have charged a second man with armed robbery in a case involving the theft of wallets, cash and cell phones from players at a card game last week.

More arrests could follow.

Authorities said they arrested Dustin E. Frint, 19, of Rockford on Wednesday, saying he is the masked man who fled from a business at 3307 Kishwaukee St. the night of Oct. 16. They said he was carrying a handgun and duffel bag.

Officers Cheryl Buntjer and Jeffrey Oberts, first to respond to the robbery call, captured Byron Starks, 34, at the scene, where he was shot in the arm by the building’s owner, Vaughn “Curly” Fitzgerald. The officers then shot and killed Fitzgerald, 80, when he refused to drop his weapon.

The Winnebago County grand jury is expected to hear details of the shootings Wed­nesday to determine whether Buntjer and Oberts were justified in their use of deadly force in the death of Fitzgerald, a man named in several illegal gambling investigations spanning the past 40 years.

Police know the identities of the 11 people who were present at the suspected illegal card game when it was robbed, but are not releasing the names, officials said Friday. One man, 77-year-old Anthony Butera, is named in court documents as a robbery victim. He declined to comment.

Police have yet to charge anyone with illegal gambling and are working to identify additional individuals who may have been present before the shooting took place.

“We do know who was at the card game,” said Rockford Deputy Police Chief Greg Lindmark. “We cannot release the names. ... The investigation still is not complete.”

In an affidavit filed in a 2002 gambling case involving Fitzgerald, Rockford Police Detective Jeffrey Stovall wrote that Fitzgerald provided the location for a floating high-stakes illegal card game known as the “Soccer Club.”

During the Oct 16 robbery, two armed men, later identified as Frint and Starks, entered the Kishwaukee Street building and ordered card players to lie on the floor while they robbed them.

Frint is in the Winnebago County Jail on $250,000 bond. Starks is in the Winnebago County Jail on $1 million bond.

Charges against Starks and Frint could be upgraded to felony murder because someone was killed during the course of the robbery, police said.

Winnebago County State’s Attorney Philip J. Nicolosi said he’s received 37 police reports pertaining to the incident so far and expects to receive more next week.

“Until I get all of the reports — out of fairness to the process — I’m not going to make any comments,” Nicolosi said.

Staff writer Corina Curry can be reached at 815-987-1395 or ccurry@rrstar.com. Staff writer Sadie Gurman can be reached at 815-987-1389 or sgurman@rrstar.com.